Socio Economic Caste Census (secc): Indian Economy

 

The Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) 2011 is the first census to ever gather comprehensive information from rural and urban households. It has produced information on a variety of social and economic variables relating to households all around the nation. 

 

•    The Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC) was launched by the Ministry of Rural Development in June 2011 with a statewide door-to-door enumeration. This is the first comprehensive assessment of India, including both urban and rural areas.

 

•    It has compiled information on a broad range of social and economic variables affecting households across the nation.

 

•    In addition, the SECC 2011 is the first paperless census conducted in India, with 640 districts participating.

 

•    All of the rural development ministry's programmes, including MGNREGA and the National Food Security Act, will now use SECC data.

 

•    SECC 2011 data will be used to identify beneficiaries and expand the direct benefit transfer programme (Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana-Aadhaar) as part of its ambitions to build on the JAM. 

 

•    A lot seems to be left out of the present definition of poverty, which was based on choosing a basket of necessities and figuring out where in India's income distribution a person could buy that basket.

 

•    The statistics, which the Planning Commission estimated by updating the Tendulkar technique to Rs. 816 per person per month in rural parts and Rs. 1,000 in urban areas, amounted to a daily spend of about Rs. 30, which caused significant uproar. Another reason was that the figures were unnecessarily low.

 

•    A new committee was established, and a new line was developed, although the Tendulkar methodology and the Rangarajan approach both resulted in a poverty line that was strikingly similar to the Tendulkar line.

 

•    A broader and more dynamic definition of poverty therefore seemed to be required.

 

•    In addition, the SECC focused on households rather than just individuals as the regular census did, giving a more accurate picture of the financial situation of families.

 

•    To enable the classification of households in accordance with their socioeconomic status, enabling state governments to build a list of families experiencing poverty.

 

•    To make accurate information available so that the country's population may be counted caste by caste and so that different castes and segments of the people can learn about their educational status.

 

•    It's important to note that the Census Act of 1948 governs the regular Population Census. The government is required by this Act to protect the privacy of citizens' personal information.

 

•    A normal population census does not focus on every specific person or household instead, its goal is to give an overview. Personal information provided in the Population Census is therefore private.

 

•    On the other hand, anyone can utilize any of the personal data gathered for the Socio Economic Caste Census (SECC).

 

•    Government authorities may provide or restrict benefits to households. This called for the right to verify socioeconomic status.

 

SECC adheres to the guidelines set forth by the S R Hashim committee, which was established by the former Planning Commission of India. To be more precise, automated exclusion based on 14 parameters, automatic inclusion based on 5 parameters, and deprivation grading based on 7 criteria.

 

•    Motorized 2/3/4 wheeler/fishing boat.

 

•    Mechanized 3-4 wheeler agricultural equipment.

 

•    Kisan credit card with a credit limit of over Rs. 50,000/-.

 

•    Household member government employee.

 

•    Households with non-agricultural enterprises are registered with the government.

 

•    Any member of the household earning more than Rs. 10,000 per month.

 

•    Paying income tax.

 

•    Paying professional tax.

 

•    3 or more rooms with pucca walls and roof.

 

•    Owns a refrigerator.

 

•    Owns landline phone.

 

•    Owns more than 2.5 acres of irrigated land with 1 irrigation equipment.

 

•    5 acres or more of irrigated land for two or more crop seasons.

 

•    Owning at least 7.5 acres of land or more with at least one irrigation equipment.

 

•    Families without a place to live.

 

•    A beggar surviving on alms.

 

•    Families of manual scavengers.

 

•    Indigenous tribal tribes.

 

•    Legally freed slave labor.

 

•    Families with a Kutchha home.

 

•    None of the adults are of working age.

 

•    A female-headed home with no men of working age as members.

 

•    Households with no able-bodied adults and members with disabilities.

 

•    Family without a literacy for more than 25 years.

 

•    SC/ST households that are landless and perform physical labor.

 

•    There are 24.49 crore (243.9 million) households in India, of which 17.97 crore (179.7 million) are village dwellers. 10.74 crore of these families are categorized as being underprivileged.

 

•    Rural households in 5.37 crore (29.97%) are classified as "landless" and earn the majority of their income from manual labor.

 

•    2.37 crore (13.25%) of families in villages reside in one-room homes with "kachcha" (permanent) walls and roofs.

 

•    3.86 crore or 21.53 percent of village families are SC/ST families.

 

•    In India, 56% of rural households lack access to land for farming.

 

•    36% of the 884 million people living in rural India are illiterate. This is more than the 32% that the 2011 Indian Census indicated.

 

•    In addition, only 5% of the 64% of rural Indians who are literate have completed primary school.

 

•    60 percent of the 17.91 crore rural families are destitute or poor.

 

•    35% of Indian households in urban areas are poor.

 

•    The highest earner in 74.5 percent of rural families (13.34 crore) earns a monthly salary of Rs 5,000.

 

•    Only 5.4 percent of people live in rural India and have graduated from high school.

 

•    3.4% of rural families have a graduate in the family.

 

•    4.6% of rural families in India pay income tax.

 

•    14 percent of homes in rural areas have someone working for the government or a business.

 

•    1, 80,657 households rely on manual scavenging for a living. With 63,713 manual scavenger dwellings, Maharashtra tops the list of states, followed by Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Tripura, and Karnataka.

 

•    In India's rural areas, women make up more than half of the population.

 

•    44.72 crore people, or more than one third of India's population, are illiterate.

 

•    Transgender people only make about 0.1% of the population in rural India. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands, West Bengal, Gujarat, Odisha, and Mizoram have the highest percentages of transgender people.

 

•    The majority of Indians who suffer from mental diseases live in Kerala.

 

•    While 68.35% of rural households only use mobile phones, only 1% of rural residences have a landline phone and no mobile phones.

 

•    The desire to fall into one of the two categories is strong among many communities.

 

•    There were not many specialists who contested the reliability of the SECC 2011 statistics. The procedure is not error-free, and the preliminary data is riddled with mistakes and omissions.

 

•    Rather than the Registrar General, Census, or the National Statistical Service (NSS), the Ministry of Rural Development (MRD) is in charge of conducting the census, which has drawn criticism from experts. For the past 65 years, both organizations have been conducting surveys and censuses; MRD is a latecomer to the game and is more susceptible to political compulsions than operating as an objective, quasi-academic unit.

 

•    There are worries that information about caste and religion from the 2011 Census of India has been purposefully omitted, ostensibly because the conclusions would be politically divisive.

 

•    While deprivation rather than consumption is the preferred method of defining poverty by academics, some evidence contradicts the realities of the situation. For instance, the number of manual scavengers is drastically undercounted.

 

•    Some claim that the SECC's limited publication and irregular enumeration may affect current social programs. All districts or even all states are not included in the information supplied.

 

•    Reliability-wise, it is less secure than the census, thus respondents might have fudged their responses to meet requirements for programs or, in the case of caste, for a variety of sociocultural factors.

 

•    According to information provided by the government, entitlements under various programs to combat poverty would be targeted using this data. To more accurately identify welfare beneficiaries, this was done.

 

•    The SECC thus assists in putting into practice the idea of "programme particular indicators for programme specific rights."

 

•    Identifying the different manifestations of poverty and tackling it through diverse programmes in a range of fields, such as health, education, sanitation, and midday meals, can be universal, while others, such accessible housing and disabilities, can be targeted. 

 

An extensive effort was made to gather data on the socioeconomic status of various people for the 2011 Socio-Economic Caste Census. It was divided into two sections: a caste census and a survey of rural and urban families that ranked them according to predetermined criteria. The specifics of people's economic circumstances in both rural and urban houses, however, were the only information made public. Public disclosure of the caste information is still pending. This will lead to the public release of incomplete data and bad policymaking for the advancement of the underprivileged and socially and economically disadvantaged sections.